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If you live in Michigan, you likely pay too much for car insurance. If you live in Detroit, the absurdity of high rates is far more pronounced: You can easily pay between $3,000 to $5,000 a year for one car, and that's if you have a good record.
Republican state House Speaker Tom Leonard and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan were pushing for legislation to overhaul the auto insurance system and make policies more affordable.
On Thursday, the Republican controlled House rejected that legislation 63-45, with 41 Republicans and four Detroit Democrats voting against it.
Critics of the plan defended guaranteed benefits in current law and questioned provisions they said could allow insurers to skirt cost-cutting requirements, writes Jonathan Oosting and Michael Gerstein of the Detroit News.
"To me, there was so many flaws in this bill," says House Minority Leader Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, told the News. "That's why you saw such bipartisan opposition."
"Our broken, outdated no-fault system has caused rates to skyrocket to the highest in the nation," says sponsoring Rep. Lana Theis, R-Brighton. The cost has "caused families to decide whether they want to put food on the table or follow the law."
